Pascal Hilkens Astro Page

Saturday, April 11, 2020

Whirlpool Galaxy M51

Just before Moonrise I took some pictures of the Whirlpool Galaxy Messier M51. This galaxy is located in Canes Venatici and about 23 million lightyears from Earth.
Pictures taken with Nikon D7500 and TAL200K f/8.5 and setting ISO6400 21x60s (total exposure 21minutes). The mount was connected with Stellarium and camera connected with DigiCamControl Software. Raw pictures converted to DNG and stacking using DeepSkyStacker. Final editing with CS4.

Venus with TAL200K

On the evening of April 9th, Venus was observed using TAL200K f/8.5. As Venus is very bright (magnitude -4,2) it's difficult to see the phases of Venus. Using very low exposure time and ISO setting at 100, I was able to photograph current phase of Venus of about 41%.

Friday, April 10, 2020

Messier M82 with TAL200K

Galaxy Messier M82 with Nikon D7500 and TAL200K f/8.5. Setting ISO3200 and total exposure time of 31 minutes each picture 31x60s. Stacking with DeepSkyStacker and final editing using CS4.
DigiCamControl software used to increase exposure time.

Galaxy Messier M82 is located in constellation Ursa Major and about 12 million lightyears away from Earth.

Comet C/2019 Y4 Atlas with TAL200K Edited

Observation of Comet C/2019 Y4 Atlas with Nikon D7500 and TAL200K f/8.5. Setting ISO800 and 6 x 120s. No darks and stacking using DeepSkyStacker. Final editing with CS4.
Long exposure was realised using DigiCamControl Software and raw pictures converted to DNG files.

Comet C/2019 Y4 Atlas with TAL200K

This evening, just before Moonrise, I took some pictures of Comet C/2019 Y4 Atlas. Setting with Nikon D7500 and TAL200K f/8.5 ISO3200 and exposure time of 120s.
The exposure time was realized by connecting DSLR Nikon with DigiCamControl Software. This was my first time I did use the software. No issues were found and no interferance with Stellarium which was connected to the mount. Below is a jpg file edited with CS4.